Rural mail-carrier.



} PATENTED N OV. 3, 1903.

C. U; LESTER.

RURAL MAIL GARRIER. APPLICATION-FILED we. 1, 1903.

I III IO MODEL.

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Patented November 3, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

CASSIUS C. LESTER, OF PENN YAN, NEW YORK.

RURAL MAIL-CARRIER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 743,298, dated November 3, 1903.

I Application filed August 1, 1903. Serial No. 167,886. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GAssIUs O. LESTER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Penn Yan, in the county of Yates and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rural Mail-Carriers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to mail-carriers, and pertains especially to a device for carrying mail on rural-delivery routes.

The object of the invention is to provide a device for collection and delivery of mail on rural routes whereby the mail may be conveniently and expeditiously handled, and consisting of a stand arranged to be fastened to the bed of a mail or other Wagon, spring-- brackets adj ustably secured to the stand, rollers journaled in the brackets, and a chain of pockets windable obliquely on the rollers, the latter being so arranged relative to each other and to the pockets that but one pocket may be brought to view, and thereby opened, at a time, leaving the remaining pockets wound about the rollers, and thereby closed.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this application, Figure 1 is a front elevation of the device applied to the bed of a wagon. Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line a; at, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a perspective View of one of the spring-brackets.

The same numeral references denote the same parts throughout the views of the drawings.

' The stand is preferably rectangular, and comprises a base 1, adapted to .be secured to the bed 2 of a mail or other wagon, posts or standards 3, and a top or cap 5. The top and bottom rollers 6 and 7, respectively, have flanges 8, and one end of the bottom roller has a flange 9, and the top roller has a ratchetwheel 10, controlled by a double-acting pawl 11. Each roller is provided with a handcrank 12 for turning it. The spring-brackets all being alike, only one of them will be described in detail, and comprises a block 13, having an aperture 4 and a set-screw 14, by means of which the bracket is adj ustably secured to the standards 3, spring-arms 15, secured to the blocks and having journalbearing 16 for the rollers, a lever 17, pivoted to one of the arms, and a locking-link 1S, hung from the lever and adapted to be operated by the lever to open and close the arms 15, give a spring tension to the rollers, and permit the latter to move apart when the pockets are filled, so as not to crush the contents of the pockets, and without effecting the winding movement of the rollers.

The pockets 20 are formed on or are a part of a strip or length of canvas or other suitable material 19, one end of the latter being secured to the bottom roller and the other end attached to the top roller, so that the canvas is rolled obliquely from one roller to the other, whereby the top edge of the pockets may hang away from the canvas and open the mouth of the pockets as they appear-unreeled from and between the rollers singly and in succession for reception and delivery of mail-matter as desired. The canvas may be of such length as to have a chain of pockets of any number desired. The rollers are so adjusted on the standards by the brackets that only one pocket will appear at one time between the rollers, such'pocket being opened as it leaves one roller and closed as it is taken on the other roller, the remaining pockets, whether containing mail-matter or not, being closed by the rollers.

It will be seenthat confusion in collection and distributing mail-matter is entirely avoided by having only one pocket in position at a time and that the rolling of the pockets to said position opens them. The pockets may have individual names of parties on the mailroute, each pocket having a separate name, or the name of the post-office may be upon each pocket, and that the brackets afford convenient means for placing and removing the rollers, and the latter are made flexible by the brackets.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- 1. In a mail-carrier, the combination, with the stand, and the rollers journaled thereon,

of a chain of pockets operated on and by the rollers to close the pockets and to open them consecutively as they appear between the rollers.

ICO

2. Ina mail-carrier,the.combination,with

the stand, the rollers, and a chain of pockets operated by and obliquely between the roll 'ers, of the brackets in which the rollers are flexibly journaled.

3. The combination, with the stand, the rollers, and a chain of mail-pockets operated by and obliquely between the rollers, of the spring-brackets having arms in which are formed bearings for the rollers and adjustable on the stand, substantially as and for to the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CASSIUS C. LESTER.

Witnesses:

0. N. MCFARREN, E. G. HOPKINS, 2d. 

